Turkey cuts oil imports from sanction-hit Iran

Turkey said on March 30 that it would cut imports of oil from Iran by 20 percent from last year’s quantities, ceding to US pressure to reduce purchases. Turkey’s state refining company Tüpraş took around 5.3 million barrels of Iranian crude in April, or around 177,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to shipping agency data from its two import terminals Tütünçiftlik and Aliağa. While Turkey has reduced imports by 100,000 bpd compared with March, this is a reduction from an unusually high month. April imports are only marginally below its 2011 average of 200,000 bpd.

The volume is also higher than the 140,000 bpd April figure a Turkish industry official last week said was imported and is not yet the 20 percent cut promised by the Turkish government.